EY announces photographic competition winner

EY recently announced a global commitment to becoming carbon negative by the end of 2021 and to mark this, a photographic competition was held in Gibraltar.

This was the next stage following the global organisation’s success in achieving carbon neutrality in December 2020, an ambition and commitment to the environment, to driving growth that is both sustainable and for the long-term.

A seven point plan was developed and published with objectives that ranged from using nature-based solutions and carbon-reduction technologies to remove from the atmosphere or offset more carbon than EY emits, every year’ to ‘providing EY teams with tools that enable them to calculate, then work to reduce, the amount of carbon emitted when carrying out EY client work.

This goal of carbon negativity has been embraced by EY Gibraltar and incorporated into their strategic planning.

One part of this was to establish a visual record of change as Gibraltar works collectively to achieve the objective of carbon neutrality by 2030.

Gibraltar’s Carbon Snapshot Photography Competition was born with the first goal of recording examples of where we are now, what has been achieved by individuals, businesses and the wider community.

The concept was for EY to launch a photographic competition open to all; one that had none of the usual age-based categories for entries but rather focused on a universal recording of two weeks in time, in Gibraltar this October. The subject is Carbon Neutrality with a focus on initiatives, large and small, that can make a difference to carbon footprints in Gibraltar.

Angelique Linares, Managing Partner of EY, sees this change as needing to happen at all levels.

“There is much for business and government to do; for example, our government has launched an initiative aimed at redesigning streets for people rather than cars titled Enhancing Sustainable Mobility with Green Gibraltar, an example of where big change can support the green aspirations of the wider community,” she said.

“However, there is also a granular level to this where small shifts in how we work can have great impact when considered collectively. We have encouraged the removal of plastic bottles from our offices; supported many in our team who wanted to introduce a meatless-Monday; replaced our conventional light bulbs with LED’s and changed our petrol powered moped to an all electric one.”

This breadth of thinking, when it comes to identifying initiatives that can support climate action, is something well reflected in the photographs submitted to the competition.

From the subject captured by competition winner Clare Francis of roof top solar panels stretching out across the dockyard buildings to the beach cleaning efforts run by The Nautilus Project and recorded by Melanie Soiza-Stagnetto, one of our runners up, the competition clearly inspired participants think about what carbon neutrality actually means to them.

“Sometimes climate action is also about inspiring others to act and we hope that our competition, and the impressive pictures that resulted, may do just that,” Angelique said.

All pictures were judged by the competition panel: Angelique Linares, Managing Partner, EY; Brian Reyes, Editor, Gibraltar Chronicle and John Cortes, Minister for the Environment, Sustainability, Climate Change, Heritage and Culture.

Competition winner of £500 - Clare Francis
“I had no specific idea in mind when I decided to enter EY’s photography competition and thought it a great opportunity to walk around Gibraltar to see which green initiatives I would discover. I felt the chosen theme was a fantastic idea and felt inspired to explore the topic via photography.”
“Having taken several photos, I chose this image as I particularly enjoyed how much of what I love about Gibraltar had been combined in this one scene.”
“The historical dockyard buildings, which represent such an iconic part of our heritage, alongside the solar panels, which represent the future we would like for Gibraltar, caught my eye. The fact that I stumbled upon this image just before sunset, another beautiful feature we are so often blessed with here, just made the perfect backdrop and lighting for me to capture.”
“I liked how, from this angle, the solar panelled roof effortlessly leads your eyes to the sea and mountains behind it, almost one with nature.”

“The image was taken with my iPhone 11 pro max, my all-time favourite way to capture images whilst on the move.”

Melanie Soiza-Stagnetto – runner up
“The Nautilus Project has been running the Great Gibraltar Beach Cleans for the last four years. We’ll celebrate the 5th anniversary on February 18th 2022 and are currently on the 74th GGBC with a removal of over 4 tonnes of plastic debris retrieved, weighed, appropriately recycled and disposed of, to date.”

“On one of our many family walks taking in Gibraltar’s beauty, we began to witness the unsightly increase of plastic pollution strewn all over our hometown. My boys would halt the walk to collect the refuse, always concerned of the potential harm it could cause our wildlife. This is where the #MedOceanHeroes programme was birthed. They were the first two of over 200 local recognised Med Ocean Heroes, and still counting. This led to the Great Gibraltar Beach Cleans initiative in a bid to get the whole community involved in a voluntary labour of love and civic pride towards our magnificent Bay of Gibraltar.”

“I’d been at the last Nautilus Great Gibraltar Beach Clean and whilst the cohort attending scoured the shoreline, I sat by the base and collected the plastic debris within a very small radius; 1m2 by 1m2.
Microplastic, nurdles and smaller broken down pieces of plastic litter all our coastline. Within seconds, a substantial amount had been retrieved. Social media is a very powerful tool and the photo depicted a strong, clear, awareness message on the damage we are causing to our marine wildlife and environment.”

“My picture creates a very visual impact on the detrimental effects our deeds are having on our coastal regions. This is an image taken right on our doorstep. We are very blessed to live by the sea and I strongly believe that collectively as a proud, feisty, caring community of people, we can and must do better.”

“Not much equipment was used: a sand sifter, a pair of tweezers, time, patience and effort were the key ingredients.”

Gerry Fagan – runner up
“I chose this for the competition as I thought it was the ideal subject for the Carbon snapshot theme. I had passed this area on numerous occasions and there were never any bicycles in that space, then one day I noticed the bicycle parked so I headed home to get my camera.”

“The photograph was actually just what I wanted having the G.O.G wording plus with the tree behind added to the Saving the Earth green message, so after getting the photograph I decided to edit it in a colour pop fashion therefore leaving all colour out and leaving just the green visible giving it the message of going ‘Green’.”

“The equipment used to get the photograph was my trusty Olympus E-M5 MK III with 12-40mm lens.”